Trent Forrest has been injured all year but made what were arguably his two most explosive moves of the season - one on a layup where he went over everyone, and then he had a crazy dunk in traffic. Of course, in the 2nd half he was limping and then sat for a long stretch, so who knows? He did have 14 points, eight rebounds, and three assists. It was the fourth time he’s had at least eight rebounds this season, and his DRB% remains higher than Terance Mann’s or Raiquan Gray’s. Part of this is hard work, and part is scheme, as post players are pinning their guys so that perimeter defenders can fly in to clean up the glass.
PJ Savoy hasn’t had the shooting season we were hoping for, but perhaps the light is coming on. Against Clemson he turned down several of the 28+ footers that he loves to take, and has made 6-15 (40%) over three games. In the 2nd half he ended a nearly four minute FSU scoring drought by knocking down a three. He now has 130 career 3s at FSU, which is 12th all time, and he needs five more to catch FSU broadcaster Adrian Crawford.
Coach Hamilton made rare use of his Twitter account by noting that he could tell his guys were locked in prior to the game starting. FSU took the lead five minutes into the game on a Terance Mann 3-ball, and then held the lead for the rest of the game. Except for a 1:41 stretch in the 2nd half, the ‘Noles held a double-digit lead for the final 23 minutes of the game. Winning on the road in the ACC is never easy, but Florida State has now won at Clemson in four of the past six years. Brad Brownell is 6-14 vs FSU.
In conference play, Clemson is the best defensive rebounding team in the ACC. The first time these two met FSU was only able to grab 19% of their own misses, while this time around Florida State pushed that to 29%. The ‘Noles held a commanding 19-9 advantage in 2nd chance points, and when Clemson made their run to cut the game to seven, FSU immediately responded with a Mfiondu Kabengele offensive board and put back.
FSU won 77-64 in a 70 possession game. In Clemson’s last 12 games, two teams have scored 70 or more points: FSU and FSU. In the five games preceding this one, the Tigers’ opponents scored an average of 50 points. Two of Clemson’s three worst defensive games in conference play have come against Florida State. For FSU, the Seminoles have now held five of the past six opponents below a point per possession, and their defense is now No. 14 nationally.
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